North Korea standoff wipes $1trn off global stocks

Today's main focus and event risk for the U.S Dollar, will be the pending inflation report from the United States Federal Reserve, which should offer fresh clues on the pace of monetary tightening. Reuters data show a 28-percent chance for a hike after the Fed's December meeting. And I will tell you this: "North Korea better get their act together or they're going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world", Trump told reporters in New Jersey, where he was meeting with his national security team.

But although US equities on Wednesday managed to close only slightly down even after Trump's warning that "fire and fury" would rain on North Korea, on Thursday the chickens came home to roost on Wall Street.

In Washington D.C., President Donald Trump doubled down on his rebuff of the Pyongyang regime and its nuclear program on Wednesday, which helped send many world markets down over the past two days.

German bond yields fell, gold and the Japanese yen surged and the leveraged bets on higher yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar took a beating. The DJIA was poised for a fall of 1.1%, making for its worst week since a 1.5% drop in the one ended March 24.

South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.4 percent, taking its losses this week to almost 3 percent. "Pretty remarkable, perhaps even extraordinary, considering", said Tim Ash, strategist at fund manager BlueBay. Stocks in developed Asia, China, South Korea and Indonesia fell more than 1 percent, while Japanese markets are closed for a holiday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, better known as the VIX and the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term stock market volatility, rose the most in about 12 weeks.The index ended up 4.93 points at 16.04, the highest level since November 8, when Trump was elected president.

The Korean won slipped as much as 0.8 percent against the dollar to levels unseen since July 12.

The S&P 500 dropped the most since May and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS lost 1.1 percent in its third straight day of declines, as it pulled further back from all-time highs.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was almost flat on the day at 93.646, remaining above last week's 15-month low of 92.548.

Manuel Oliveri, an FX strategist at Credit Agricole in London, said further gains in the franc were likely to trigger renewed risk of currency intervention by its central bank as it seems to be pursuing a policy of gradual currency weakness. Gold miners bucked the 1.3 per cent fall for Australia's benchmark index.

Nordstrom Inc.(JWN) shares rose 1.6% after the retailer late Thursday posted earnings that beat expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nordstrom-shares-rise-after-retailer-tops-views-sales-rise-2017-08-10), along with a sales rise.

"Yuan is expected to remain relatively steady or strong compared to regional peers", Scotiabank said in a note on Thursday.

Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,287 per ounce by 2.17pm GMT, set for its biggest weekly gain since April.

US gold futures for December delivery rose 0.2 percent to $1,291.80 per ounce.

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Wall Street's fear gauge - the CBOE Volatility Index or the VIX - surged 44%, its second-biggest one-day jump of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 204.69 points, or 0.9 percent, to 21,844.01, just shy of its low point for the day.

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About 6.22 billion shares changed hands on US stock exchanges, slightly above the 6.15 billion average for the last 20 sessions. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the consumer discretionary index's 0.59 percent fall leading the decliners.

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